What is Stillness?

I am focusing my yoga theme these next few weeks on STILLNESS.

We are significantly less acquainted with stillness in our increasingly media driven world. Sitting for hours scrolling through flickering images or netflixing our way through the weekend is more akin to stasis than stillness.

Technology induced INERTIA is a difficult habit to break. Our body remains inactive as we consume entertaining or inflaming media, and untended because our attention is elsewhere. We are mentally stimulated and physically starving.

This is different from LIFELESSNESS. No living creature is actually lifeless, but grief, depression, and exhaustion can have lifeless qualities. Neither our body or our mind is stimulated and we experience ourselves going through the motions of life without feeling alive.

Inertia and lifelessness have very little in common with stillness even though our bodies may lack motion. Stillness is a precious state that is at once relaxed and highly energized.

One of the most obvious and easy times to experience stillness is during the pause between inhalation and exhalation. For most of us that pause isn’t so present, which is why taking a moment now to tune into your breath and feel it before you continue might be useful.

When we pause at the end of the inhale, we are filled with oxygen. Our cells are nourished and metabolically sated. This is a moment where we are not clamoring and we can look around at the inner and outer horizon of our being. Stillness doesn’t happen during myopic activity. We need the sense of expansion to resonate with the space around us. We have the same chance to pause after our exhalation but the quality is different. We have excreted CO2 and now have the opportunity to rest. We are gathering our resources in preparation for the cycle to begin again.

When we are steadily able to perceive and receive, we are in a state of stillness and very ALIVE. Inner and outer landscapes dissolve into a singular experience. The state of STILLNESS is a perfect balance between life sustaining action and life supporting rest.

As we move through the asana these weeks, we’ll be working on opening into these high energy states, cultivating the stillness within each pose.

I know many of you are not local, but I wanted to give you a sense of what I’m up to in class so that you can take it into your own practice. If my yoga orientation appeals to you, email me with “yes” in the reply and I’ll put you on my list to help beta test the newly minted video offerings.